Hillary Clinton’s emails on her unsecured, homebrew server contained intelligence from the US government’s most secretive and highly classified programs, according to an unclassified letter from a top inspector general to senior lawmakers.
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Her campaign press secretary, Brian Fallon, reiterated what Clinton has said for months: no classified information was sent or received through her private email server.
The report contains an unclassified letter from the Inspector General to members of Congress, which states that Clinton transmitted “Special Access Program” (SAP) information on her private email server.
Watch the report above, via Fox News. The Jan. 14 letter included the results of a comprehensive review by intelligence agencies identifying “several dozen” additional classified emails on Clinton’s “home-brew” server. With Clinton repeatedly noting that none of the emails contain information that was marked classified at the time they were sent, State officials have typically indicated that the emails have been “upgraded” to a classified status as part of the review process to prepare them for public release.
“According to the declarant, these documents contain information derived from classified IC element sources”, McCullough III wrote in his letter, referring to “sworn declarations” he requested from the IC internal elements involved in the probe. We have said repeatedly that we anticipate more upgrades throughout our release process. Hillary’s campaign unsuccessfully attempted to dispute the IG’s previous determination that her woefully under-secure bootleg server contained intelligence deemed “top secret;’ this is even worse”.
Asked last week whether she had been personally interviewed by the FBI, Clinton gave a one-word answer, “No”.
Such information is beyond “confidential”, “secret” or “top secret” classifications and is walled off for various reasons, including that it risks exposing the human-intelligence asset who gathered the information. Only the president and a handful of cabinet secretaries can authorize such a program.
Herridge turned to a former senior law enforcement source with decades of experience investigating violations of SAP procedures for comments.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus was prosecuted by the Justice Department for sharing intelligence from special access programs with his mistress Paula Broadwell. He said the Freedom of Information Act review process is still underway and said once it is complete, “if it is determined that information should be classified as top secret, we will do so”.
The IG letter has been sent to leaders with the House and Senate intelligence committees and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and State Department inspector general. Clinton signed the same agreement in January 2009.
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Feinstein said the inspector general was being used for “baldly partisan attacks”.
